Watch The Namesake For Free

This movie is the proof that the world is becoming a sick and dumb place

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

When it's at its best, "The Namesake", directed by Mira Nair, blends together the character building of the book by the same name (written by Jhumpa Lahiri), and the physicality of a movie. However, that is not always the case, as many times characters and emotions get jumbled together by poor acting and pacing issues. The story begins by following Ashoke, who marries Ashima, and they later have a son named Gogol. In the novel, one chapter is spent on this relationship, and much of the rest of the story is told from Gogol's perspective. The film takes much longer to get to Gogol, so when he does appear, the focus must shift to him. Instead, the movie continues to follow his family, making Gogol more and more irrelevant. When he finally has a crucial scene, the actor that portrays him (Kal Penn) does as good as a job as an eight-year-old could do. He reads his lines as if he was reading off of a teleprompter, and his actions seem stunted and choreographed. The absolutely horrendous acting causes the audience to lose interest quickly with Gogol. Irregularities with the novel, such as the exclusion of Ruth, Gogol's first girlfriend, hardly matter as the movie moves very abruptly about the time line, making quick, drastic cuts that can span over 10 years in one second. The continuous switching causes the audience to lose their connection with Gogol, and thus their connection to the movie as a whole. If you have not read the book, you may not feel that there are large gaps to fill. However, the differences, and exclusion between the movie and the book continue to grow as the movie progresses. First, we do not see the book save Ashoke's life. This is because Ms. Nair was trying to surprise us with the reveal later in the movie, so that exclusion was understandable. However, when Ruth doesn't appear, the book readers will start to furrow their brows. She is an essential part of Gogol's life, and without her, the payoff of Gogol finally finding someone like him, Moushumi, isn't as large. Also, Dmitri is excluded from the movie. Even though he was a small character in the book, he added much-needed depth to Moushumi's character, a depth which we never got while watching the movie.All in all, A book that was mostly built on character development, with very little plot, is one of the hardest subjects to base a movie on. Ms. Nair does a good job of trying to get all of the pieces to fit, but in the end, the movie doesn't function nearly as smooth as the book does. With a run time of only 122 minutes, it's hard to imagine a scenario where the movie can spend as long as the book in showing its audience certain settings and characters.Score: 5/10

This is family "coming to the US" story spanning two generations; the 1st coming from what was once considered an "exotic" locale (i.e. India). Unfortunately, in focusing on the lives of both the father's generation AND the son's, the film runs way too long, with scenes that really don't add much to the plot line; an example being the family trip to India...which is superfluous since we've already seen it as a backdrop in the first part of the movie. While the film does have a couple of excellent performances (Zuleikha Robinson proves again that she is as sultry as she is versatile), overall it is very slow moving and self-indulgent. Like "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" it uses (see: overdoes) the kitsch/formula of a culture that's not quite like the rest of what middle-America may be used to over and over (i.e. "we're Indian/Greek/Italian/Rastafarian/Scientologist...so we have to do things this way") but in the end succeeds in showing us just how much we really are alike.

I liked the Namesake. It doesn't have groundbreaking story lines or exceedingly deep characters. It's strength lies in it's more or less simple and straightforward storytelling and love-story of a Bengali couple's migration, growth, and life in the States from India. Particularly I liked the first hour or so of the cultural coupling and move. Irrfan Khan particularly did a great job as a grounded person and father and husband whose attitude toward life was particularly compelling (SPOILER) after his brush with death. The movie moves back and forth between India and families. Kal Penn's character goes through an interesting progression and seems to grow. Although Golgol seems to more or less disregard his parents. Some of the relationships especially with 1st girlfriend seem a bit far-fetched and underwritten. Anyway, The Namesake was a good movie worth a viewing.

My expression after the movie was not exactly something like mind blowing, although undoubtedly it kept me wondering for a long time. keeping words to my insanity about movie-knowledge, I came to know about Mira (The director)for the very first time by this film. But after watching that, I am eagerly looking forward to watch some of her more. There were too many good shots to mention during the two hours. The screening was awesome! As TABU is in my all time favorite list, it should not require much words to describe her whereas IRFAN KHAN and KAL PANE were genuine in their own roles. But beyond all their excellency, the theme part of THE NAMESAKE touched me most. It makes me to wonder about my root as well as the destination. After the long day, Life seems to be a big paradox.